Endlessly Flowing
by S-SpecialK
Summary: Drop...drop...drop...The tears wouldn't stop. Dedicated to the first episode.


Endlessly Flowing

**Endlessly Flowing**

**By**

**Amaya-chan**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Mushishi, or the plot of the story here. It all rightfully belongs to Yuki Urushibara.

**Author's Note:** This is a fanfic dedicated and all about the first episode of Mushishi. And please, as you are reading this fanfiction, play the song, which is the piano theme from Mushishi, "Midori no Za" to go along with the story. Please enjoy and tell me what you think!

* * *

_Drop_

_Drop_

_Drop_

The tears wouldn't stop. Never in his life had he felt so many tears flow from his eyes. He didn't know how much she had to go through. These strong feelings...all of them were sad.

* * *

_Step..._

_...Step..._

_...Step..._

The footsteps continued to echo into the faraway distance. Never in her life had she wanted to hear it.

* * *

Half human...Half mushi...

There was no use on ever hoping on ever meeting to her grandson or even living the life she had before. All she was able to do was watch as her other self lived life freely, as she was stuck like that. She had to see herself live and die, and in the end, she could only watch over her grandson with the gift of "God's Left Hand."

* * *

_(If only)_ the drinking bowl didn't break in half...

_(If only)_ the drinking bowl didn't dry up...

_(If only)_ I was able to finish it faster...

_(If only)_ I didn't get caught in that line...

_If only..._

_If only..._

* * *

The world up to now, over thirty-one years, seemed to only be filled with "what if" and "If only" for her. All she was allowed to do was watch over him and her other self. It was almost lonely for her.

He must have been lonely after her other self died, she would think. And she understands loneliness quite well.

The worst thing was, no one could hear her...no one could see her anymore. It was difficult.

Yes, forever she will be forced to live like this, stuck in her child-self. However, one was able to help her and her grandson finally meet.

A "weird" man, as she called him, with snow white hair and bright emerald eyes who went by the name of Ginko, a Mushishi expert. Originally he came to investigate the boy with God's left hand, but ended up going into a deeper matter. He was able to save his grandmother from her never ending sadness, and as well as the boy's loneliness in that big house in the middle of nowhere.

* * *

"_My Grandmother?! You're saying she's still in this house?"_

The boy, Shinra Iorui, was definitely surprised to hear his deceased grandmother, Renzu, was still there. It was almost unreal to him.

"_Well, in a way, but she isn't here as a human. She's somewhere between human and mushi."_

"_What does that mean?"_

"_A mushi party. That's what they call the phenomenon. At times, the mushi imitate human form and invite quests to the party. There, the people pass a drinking bowl around, and they drink down the "sake" inside it. The rules of life break down...and the humans begin to live as mushi."_

The man, Ginko, explained to the confused boy he sat infront of about his grandmother's state of not becoming a full mushi or a full human.

"_My grandmother did? Turned into that?"_

"_Yeah. But one party was stopped in the middle. And because of it, your grandmother never became a mushi. When your grandmother went back him, she was very different person than she was before. She left half of herself back there. Shinra, that grandmother you knew was only half of her. But that other half did much the same... She watched over this house since the day you were born."_

"_But, I never noticed anything!"_

Shinra said accusingly, most likely at himself. Ginko consoled him, telling him it wasn't his fault for not noticing. Then he continued to speak.

"_But if we use your power, you can turn your grandmother completely into a mushi. If you do it, she'll never return to being human but..."_

* * *

"_**What do you want to do?"**_

"_**Really?" a seeming young girl who was named Renzu muttered. Then some wet fell from her onyx eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "Is it true, that if we do this, I can actually meet Shinra?" She was crying...She was crying...probably out of happiness that this life she lead would finally change into something better.**_

* * *

"_...Your Grandmother took almost no time to decide. Will you help her with your power Shinra?"_

* * *

Almost in an instant, just like Renzu, he agreed, and they would succeed with their task. All he had to do was paint the drinking bowl. The color just came to the brush that rested in his hand without dipping it into any ink or paint, and the image came to him clearly. Amazing.

Watching it come to life, it broke in half. Retrieving the second half from Renzu on top of a nearby tree branch, the put the two together, and soon the "sake" filled it once more like all those years ago.

The man gave it to Renzu and in front of Shinra's eyes; slowly...slowly...she became visible as she finished drinking the bowl's contents. The first thing he would see was his grandmother, smiling (in the form of a child), and right in front of him for the first time in four years.

He felt something in the palm of his hands, and noticed it was the same bowl and the same sake that Renzu drank and drank out of. As he took the sip, memories flooded his mind.

_...Memories..._

_Many memories_ came to him.

_Many memories _came almost instantaneously, once he took that one sip.

They were all the memories of his grandmother, Renzu. They were the memories of how she became like that.

* * *

_(How)_ she was caught in the line on her way home,

_(How)_ the fragrance of the "sake" or the Koki was sweet,

_(How) _she lost herself as she drank listening to what the mushi had to say,

_(How)_ it was interrupted by the raven crow,

_(How) _the bowl suddenly dried up and everyone disappeared,

_(And how)_ in the end, half of her walked away into the distance, leaving her other half to stand there to shed many tears...

* * *

Everything was shown to him. Everything was unfolded before him.

"_Shinra?"_ voices called, snapping him out of the trance he was stuck in.

"_Oh? I wonder what's come over me..."_

He finally noticed...He finally noticed the tears he was shedding. He finally realized he was suddenly crying right where he stood.

* * *

_Drop..._

_...Drop..._

_...Drop..._

The tears wouldn't stop. Never in his life had he felt so many tears flow from his eyes. He didn't know how much she had to go through. These strong feelings...all of them were sad. So, they flowed and continued to flow. And, just like his tears, the Koki from the bowl also kept on flowing.

* * *

"_If your studies take you in this direction, then stop by again. I hate to say it, but Shinra will be lonely living on his own in a place like this."_

"_I doubt that it'll be necessary. From now on...you're going to always be with him..."_

* * *

She watched him walk away into the distance. And after that, a set of new rumors about a child with a godlike left hand were suddenly silenced.

* * *

"**Shinra's tears just kept flowing. Renzu's emotions and perceptions washed over him in minute detail. It was just...It was just...that the breaking of the drinking bowl was sad, he could help himself. And as if responding in sympathy, the Koki kept filling up the bowl. Endlessly...Flowing..."**

* * *

**Author's Note: Well how was it? I took the actual quotes and the conversations between the characters from the manga. I don't own anything in this fanfiction really. I hope you enjoyed it! This is my very first Mushishi fanfiction, so I hope it was at least okay. I still think I could have done much better than this (laughs) I just basically retold the story in my writing style. Well, I hope you enjoyed and please review to tell me what you think. (smiles) Try not to go too hard on me.**


End file.
